Hello again. Thanks for stopping by. There have been so many great things to read lately!Here are a few of my favorites:

• Converting a prospect into a sale can be tricky. Here are some great tactics to help: bit.ly/1U9wSo6
• Trust is the key way for leaders to build their success: bit.ly/256yl21
• This article gave some tips for how to make an ineffective blog more effective: bit.ly/1pO4mM3
• Sometimes companies need to make an apology. This article shares some of the times when that may arise – and how to do it: bit.ly/1pNOlWg
• A true leader sees a problem and takes responsibility for stepping up and fixing it: bit.ly/1XxYKQq
• These are three metrics you should consider measuring at your company: bit.ly/1R5RFCW
• In this article a CEO shares the 3 biggest leadership mistakes he made – and what he learned from them: bit.ly/1MaRNUL
• It’s not surprising that a strategy does have a limited shelf-life. This article discusses how to keep yours up-to-date: bit.ly/1RkXThn
• The “Platinum Rule” is a great way to approach customer relationships: onforb.es/1RkX6gz
• I like to share articles about how different companies develop and execute their business strategies. This article discusses Square’s growth plan going forward: read.bi/1pJUSRU
• Learning from others can be so valuable. Here are Warren Buffet’s favorite books – and ones he thinks we should read? read.bi/1WoHjSf
• Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) just might be the most impactful technology seen since the Internet began: on.wsj.com/1pjlGYv
• This was an interesting article about what happened when workers gave up email for almost two weeks: bit.ly/1RZSVtM
• Remember Webvan? It was going to harness the power of the Internet to power home food delivery. It became an example of a dot-com bust. Now as other companies try to take on that market here’s what we can learn about timing timing from the failure of Webvan: for.tn/1TH38hW
• I’m interested to see how Honest Co. going to handle their challenge over sodium laurel sulfate in its products. This will be a good example of handling crisis affecting a core part of your business: bit.ly/1QQfDEe
• Who doesn’t want to become a super-effective leader. This article shared some good ideas on how to become one: bit.ly/1Rg6yIc

Last week my mind was focused a lot on how our brands should be developed and supported by being authentic, practical, and valuable. Here were some tips I shared:

• Delivering a remarkable customer experience defined by your brand is a key to long-term business success.
• The creative part of branding MUST be driven by a well-thought-out, authentic brand promise.
• Authenticity must be at the heart of your brand. You must BE who you say you are.
• Actually ASK you intended market what they understand your brand to mean. Does it match what you intended?
• Your brand sets up an expectation in the mind of a customer. You must be clear about what you want that to be.

And on the blog I shared a post about how to approach your brand with these ideas in mind: “Brand Promised, Brand Delivered“. I’d really be interested to hear your thoughts on how to develop a brand that’s authentic and communicates the value a company brings to it’s customers. Please leave a comment!